High School Baseball and Softball

Cedar Rapids Prairie and Class 4A No. 1-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy split an Iowa high school baseball doubleheader Monday night at Prairie High School. Prairie won the opener, 13-9. The Cougars took the nightcap, 11-0 in five innings.

Cedar Rapids Kennedy began this week with a 20-1 record, propelling it to the top of the Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 4A rankings released Monday. Kennedy has made a steady climb after starting at fifth in the preseason poll.

Wamac divisional contenders Marion and Benton Community battle. Cascade and Dyersville Beckman play in one of the state’s best baseball rivalries. Western Dubuque hosts Dubuque Wahlert for something bigger than baseball. Here are five games to watch this week.

Saturday was the Crosstown Classic in Solon, an event featuring three prep baseball games and youth baseball and softball games. It’s a fundraiser for The Fight With Flash Foundation in honor of Austin “Flash” Schroeder of Iowa City, who died of lymphoma at the age of 15 in 2015. Flash’s favorite sport was baseball

Peyton Stineman’s seventh-inning home run extended the second game of Thursday’s softball doubleheader at Niemeyer Field, then Class 5A eighth-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy won it in the eighth, 8-6. That forged a split between the Cougars and Cedar Rapids Jefferson. The host J-Hawks won the first game (the one that counted in Mississippi Valley Conference standings), 10-5.

Led by the Gookin sisters, Class 3A No. 4 Mount Vernon weathered some pregame distractions and swept Marion in a softball doubleheader.

Mount Vernon swept an Iowa high school softball doubleheader against Marion by scores of 10-5 and 13-1 Wednesday night at Marion High School.

Linn-Mar senior outfielder Jaxon Kramer is batting .383 and will continue his career at DMACC in the fall.